Why is my frame rate struggling?

Question

I know my question stated above is extremely vague but let me clarify. I have been with x-plane since version 7 so I am not new by any means but that doesn't mean I know all there is to know.

Currently I have a MacPro (Trash can model) With the dual D700s and with my texture resolution set in normal and most other settings not set high at all and I only get 15-17 fps. I seem to get that framerate wether I am in a heavy custom scenery area or not, and same thing for a pay ware versus included aircraft. 

It doesn't seem like the CPU or Memory are being taxed at all. I know x-plane 10 doesn't recognize two GPUs and thats fine because one card alone is 6GB. Now the only taxing thing is I am running at 4k resolution but that can't eat that much into the GPU. I have attached a copy of my computer specs and x-plane settings. 

I know there are a lot of factors that effect how the software performs, but I feel it should be a little better than I am currently getting. 

If a developer would like to team viewer (or any other software for remote access) in and check things out under the hood I am totally okay with that, because the computer runs smooth as can be just not x-plane 10.

Currently running XP 10.45 non beta

 

 

Answer 1

I believe the 4k monitor is probably the issue. These didn't even exist when X-Plane 10 came out, so it's certainly not optimized to work with them. Here are the latest tips from the X-Plane Developer blog on getting better frame rate with high autogen settings:

So here are some tips on how to get a lot of autogen and decent framerate.

1. Make sure you haven’t overloaded VRAM. As long as everything that needs to be in VRAM, you’re done; there’s no “better”- you just need to not be overloaded. The way to do this is to turn texture res way down, tune up the system, and then at the end increase texture res until framerate suffers; then turn it down one notch. Remember to restart each time to get accurate texture use.
2. Start with the GPU underloaded – small window, no clouds, low FSAA. You can turn those up later after you get the CPU utilized. (If the GPU is bogged down you can’t even see what you are doing.)  Note that when you do go to crank GPU settings, do this first and crank texture res last, as the high GPU settings burn “extra” VRAM for off-screen buffers.
3. Turn down settings that chew up CPU. Considering turning off AI aircraft and turn the cars way way down. If you use a payware aircraft that eats CPU (and many of them do) you may want to keep it so you can see what your “real” performance will be; saving 10 fps by throwing out the aircraft isn’t great if you want to actually fly.
4. Turn down settings that amplify the cost of AG. This might be the most important one; in those pics, shadows are in “overlay” and water reflections are way down.  When those settings go up, every autogen building is drawn for shadows and reflections, not just in the scene, making the AG many times more expensive.  I suggest shadows on the aircraft in 3-d and the second lowest reflection setting.